Taisen Deshimaru
3,080 words
Translated by Guillaume Durocher
Translator’s Note: The following extracts are drawn from Taisen Deshimaru, Zen et Arts martiaux (Paris: Albin Michel, 1983 [1977]). The style reflects the rambling, spontaneous speaking of many Zen masters, whose “writings” are often not of their own initiative, but rather sayings recorded by their pious (often Western) followers. Another example of this would be Shunryū Suzuki, who was popular in California. This does raise the question of how “Taisen Deshimaru” authored the books ascribed to him. Read more …
(2004), which is very much in the same vein: a martial arts film set in the exotic past with complex and interesting characters, impossible but spectacular fights, gorgeous landscapes, and dazzling costumes and sets. House of Flying Daggers was filmed in China and Ukraine. Most of it is set outdoors, in magnificent forests of birch and bamboo, filmed in the lushest colors imaginable. 
(2002) is a profoundly beautiful and moving film that celebrates Chinese culture and tradition and promotes noble and patriotic sentiments. Hero is based very loosely on an actual event that took place in 227 BCE near the end of the Warring States Period. It tells the story of an attempt to assassinate Qin Shi Huang, the King of Qin and later the first Emperor of China.
Asskicking 101
So, you wanna fight, huh? Or maybe you’ve been given no choice – your country is overrun by hostile people with a genetic predisposition for lowbrow criminality and you have to defend your person, your loved ones, your honor, and your wallet with the weapon which God saw fit to put at the end of each man’s arm. Read more …